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Cowi to design offshore turbine foundations for major US wind scheme

Equinor’s map of its Empire and Beacon schemes off the US east coast, together comprising 3.3GW of generating capacity (Equinor)
Tapping what it called a booming market, Danish engineer Cowi has been selected to design 138 wind turbine foundations for the Empire Wind 1 and 2 projects off the coast of Long Island, New York.

Spearheaded by a joint venture between bp and Norwegian fossil-fuel and wind energy company, Equinor, the Empire development is one of the biggest renewable energy projects in the US to date. The joint venture was picked for the development last month.

The Empire schemes will use 15MW turbines installed over 80,000 acres in water depths ranging from 65 to 131 feet, providing an anticipated generation capacity of more than 2GW. Cowi will design foundations with diameters of approximately 30 feet, it said.

New York State aims to generate 70% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Cowi said it would assign more than 100 experts to work on foundation design, including tower interface and seabed fastening. Its engineering support will cover steel, geotechnical, electrical, fabrication, transportation and installation.

“It’s developments like this that really excite us,” said Cowi’s offshore wind market director, Greg Matzat, hailing the development of “a new industry in the US”.

“The offshore wind industry in the US is booming, and we see great potential here for our engineers to continue providing innovative solutions for our clients,” he added.

Cowi previously won a seven-year contract for Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts.

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